No Condemnation (Part One)

© C. O. Bishop 12/25/15 THCF 12/27/15

Romans 8:1-4

Introduction:

We have taken a bit of a guided tour through Romans over the last several months: We saw in the first five chapters the utter bankruptcy and lostness of the human race, contrasted against the Grace of God freely offered through the person of Christ. We saw that we are to enter into that Grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus as being the full payment for our sins.

We saw that upon our placing our faith in His shed blood, his complete righteousness was posted to our account as a believer, so that we are no longer seen as bankrupt, but as fully solvent in Christ, and completely righteous in Him.

We saw that because of that transaction at the Cross, we are no longer seen as enemies, but rather that we are at Peace with God, and, more importantly, He is at peace with us.

In chapters six and seven we saw that we no longer have to sin…we have a genuine choice available to us because we have a genuine new nature. The old nature is still present, but no longer holds any authority. It has not only lost its authority, but it has lost its identity, as God no longer sees our old sin nature (frequently called the “flesh” in scripture, but not to be confused with tone’s physical body) as the “real” person. He will only address Himself to the new nature, sometimes called the New Man, and sometimes the “mind” or the “spirit”, (not to be confused with the Holy Spirit.) We finally saw the results (chapter 7) when a genuine believer earnestly attempts to live the Christian life in His own strength.

The trilogy of Romans 6, 7 and 8, then, is completed with 12 “layers” of truths in chapter eight:

There is no condemnation to those in Christ.
Those in Christ are free from the Law of Sin and Death.
Those in Christ are responsible to walk in Him.
Only those in Him can walk in Him.
Only the Holy Spirit can do the walking.
Only saved people have the Holy Spirit…and, conversely, if you do not have the Spirit, you aren’t
The Flesh cannot be subject to God, so it cannot please God.
The Flesh is always an agent of death, whether physical or spiritual…always remembering that “death”, in scripture, is always some sort of separation, whether spiritual or physical, and whether temporary or eternal.
Those who are indwelt by the Spirit of God are already the Sons of God, and, because of that we are joint-heirs (not co-heirs) with Christ.
At the “adoption” (Greek “huiothesis”) we will be recognized (publicly) as the heirs of God, and, at that point, too, the Earth will be freed from its bondage…when we receive our new bodies.
We cannot be separated from God, because we cannot be separated from the love of God which is in Christ.
We cannot separate ourselves from His love, because He specifies that “no created thing” can separate us from Him…and we are, by definition, a “created thing”.

I don’t think it would be profitable to try to cover all of these twelve layers of teaching in one service; partly because we would have to rush, and partly because it does not give the hearer the necessary time to think things over. There is a great deal here upon.which to meditate

So, let’s see how far we can get:

No Condemnation:

This is one of the most important foundational truths for the believer in terms of confidence, peace, and functionality. If you do not grasp the central truth of your security in Christ then you cannot serve effectively because you will be constantly looking back to see if your salvation is still safe.

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

This comment alone has generated more arguments among evangelical Christians than most of the rest of the Bible. Some see it as a dangerous teaching that will be misused to produce licentiousness. And that is true. Any valuable tool or privilege can be misused. A hammer (or a pair of scissors, etc.) can be used as a weapon; that does not mean that people should not have hammers or scissors. It means that we have to use responsibly the gifts and tools that God has given us. That same principle applies across all levels of truth. The fact that truth can be misused does not negate its truth…it simply means that responsibility goes along with truth.

Let’s examine both the truth and the responsibility that accompanies it.

How sure am I (and why am I so sure) that I am secure in Christ? It is clearly stated in many passages that offer no qualifiers. It is the key theme of this particular chapter, and is stated by Jesus personally, in passages where no conditions were added to modify the promise.

John 10:27, 28 is a fairly important passage. He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.” Notice that he did not say, “IF they follow me, I will give them eternal life”…he said “…they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” I have many times heard someone protest, “well, yes, but you can jump out!” No…because, in the first place, if you could “jump out”, then the central promise to this passage (“They shall never perish!”) would be untrue.

Also (again Jesus is speaking), in John 6:37-39, Jesus promised “all that the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. For I came not down from heaven to do my own will but the will of Him that sent me, And this is my Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” Let’s think that one through:

All that the Father has given to Jesus will come to him. He won’t fail to find them.
No one who comes to Jesus will ever be cast out…ever.
God’s specific will regarding all those given to Jesus is that Jesus will never lose one of them, but that
They will be raised up at the last day.

That is pretty specific. There are no honest ways to refute the promise. Sometimes people try to bring up counter-examples:

Judas Iscariot (He was never saved to begin with—Jesus himself said so. John 13:10, 11)
Ananias and Sapphira (they lost their physical lives—there is no evidence that their eternal destiny was involved.)
Samson seems a “poster-child” for an unfaithful believer, if you only read his history. But when we read God’s commentary on him, we find him in Hebrews 11:32, listed by name under God’s “hall of fame” for faith. Many other such examples exist, but the point is that we need to believe God’s promise, not keep trying to find loopholes.

One thing we don’t want to overlook is the second half of verse one: “…who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit”. There are those who argue that this half of the verse is a copyist error, and that it is only supposed to be in verse four, not verse one. But let’s set that argument aside: What would it say if we knew for sure that it should be in both places?

Looking back at Chapter seven we see that Paul concluded that a “disconnect” had occurred between his old sin nature and his new righteous nature: that the old man, the flesh, was no longer him. Does that shed any light on the subject? Who is it that verse one promises will not be condemned? The old man or the new? The old man is already condemned, and irrevocably so: even God couldn’t save it or change it. The new man is created in the likeness of God to the extent that it is completely righteous and holy, just like Him (Ephesians 4:22, 24).

Do you suppose he may be simply reiterating the separation between old and new, here? God does judge sins…and he judges sinners, if they cling to their sins. The moment you trusted Jesus as your savior, your sins were judged at the Cross, and you gained a new nature, so that the Lord will never again see you as a sinner. Will you see yourself as a sinner? Actually, I rather hope that you do—Paul saw himself that way.

Paul said (1^st Timothy 1:15), “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; among whom I am chief.” (Greek protos eimi ego: Not “was”, but “am!” Jesus used nearly the same construction when he said [John 14:6] “I am the way, the Truth, and the Life…”, and Paul used exactly the same construction when he said [Romans 11:13] “I am the apostle to the Gentiles.”) It is interesting, too, to realize that of all the apostles, and all the potential people who might say such a thing about themselves, Paul is the only one through whom the Holy Spirit elected to say such a thing…and he said it three times, in so many words. (“To me, who am less than the least of all saints…”; “not worthy to be called an apostle…”—these words are not just Paul’s “emotional outlook”.

Peter might have possibly said such a thing in his own private grief at having denied the Lord, but in his epistles there is not a trace of that. Paul, who arguably is the one who laid the foundation of the entire Gentile church, is the one through whom the Holy Spirit made all three of those statements… about Paul, no one else. So, while I think it is fine for me to soberly look at myself and say, “I am a sinner, saved by grace!”, it is not OK for me to declare myself the “worst of sinners” or anything similar, because Paul already holds that title. That is what it says. I do not claim to understand it, but there is no question that it is what it says.

So, those who “walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” includes all believers. God has permanently separated you from your sins.

Set Free from the Law of Sin and Death

The next thing Paul states is that he has been made free from the Law of Sin and Death.

²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Notice the tense in this verse: does he say that the Spirit will make him free? No, he says that the law of the Spirit has made him free from the Law of sin and Death… past tense! So, what does that mean? What is the Law of Sin and Death, anyway? Is it the same as the Law of Moses?

I think that the Law of Moses could certainly be included, because, as you recall, the Law of Moses certainly called for death to the disobedient. But the “Law of sin and death” goes back even further: In Genesis 2:17, God warned Adam, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” There is the first iteration of the Law of sin and death. “If you break the Law you will die”. That is the central theme of Law. Notice that there were no “safeguards” set up—no invisible fences or anything similar. They broke the Law, and died spiritually the moment Adam ate that fruit. 3,500 years later, God re-stated the principle: Ezekiel 18:4 says “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

So, in what way have I (past tense) been set free from this ancient principle? I can see that the Law of sin and death recognized me as someone who should be put to death. But, according to Galatians 2:19, “I, through the Law, am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God.” Jesus fulfilled the Law for Himself by living it perfectly. He fulfilled the Law for me by dying in my place. Now I am free, not because the Law has changed, but because it is satisfied regarding my sin. I am dead!

³For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

That is what Jesus accomplished through His perfect life and substitutionary death. He deposited His righteousness to our accounts by His perfect life, and took our sin in his vicarious, substitutionary death. The Law made no provision for such a thing. The Law of the substitute was there, to be sure, but in very limited form. The Kinsman redeemer was there, but only to a certain extent. Jesus fulfilled all the promises of God for a redeemer and a savior, and a perfect sacrifice that takes away sin, rather than temporarily covering it.

What Should be the Result in Our Lives?

⁴That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We are alive to God, and He wants us to respond to His Grace by allowing Him to live through us, and demonstrate His righteousness in us. For what cause? To keep us from going to hell? No, to glorify God in our bodies, and to keep others out of hell. Jesus said that we were to let our light shine in such a way that others will see our good works and not glorify us, but glorify our Father in Heaven! Our good works are part of the Christian life, but they are not part of how we are saved, nor part of how we are kept safe. They are part of our testimony and part of our worship: part of how we honor God with our lives. All the saving and keeping is done by Jesus.

But, What if We Fail?

Are there consequences for disobedience? Of course there are…but they still do not negate the promises we just read. My salvation and my security in Christ are entirely His responsibility, not mine. I could do nothing to save myself, and I can do nothing to stay saved. But I want my life to count for eternity: I want to honor God with my life. I do not always succeed in that. Many times I fail: If you don’t believe me, just ask my family.

But we are told to confess that we have failed, and get up and walk again. We are just as secure when we are wallowing in sin and self-pity or self-righteousness, as when we are soberly, joyfully, honestly walking with God…but we will not be aware of it, nor happy about it. 1^st John 1:9 is not just a statement of fact, or even a command, it is a precious promise. We can be restored to fellowship and joyful service!

Make it a priority in your life to go back over chapters 6, 7 and 8 until the lesson sinks in and you can apply it to yourself. That is what I am having to do as I teach through these passages.

Lord Jesus, make us able ministers of your Word, and teach us to place our faith in your divine safekeeping, so that we are not constantly working to make ourselves better, but to make your name shine before those who don’t know you. Shape us into the Men and Women of God that you have chosen us to be.

Amen!

April 7, 2015

About the Resurrection

The Resurrection:

Introduction:

We are here to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We come with a sense of reverence, and joy. That is as it should be. But let us also consider why we feel that way.

Why is the resurrection so important? Do we just want to feel good, believing that somewhere, somehow, Jesus is still alive today, and that he will come back? Or is there more at stake? And when we talk about resurrection, are we talking about a physical resurrection, or just the “going to heaven when you die” type of idea?

Did Jesus’ wrecked, mortal shell that was taken down from the cross, carefully wrapped in cloth and spices, for embalming, and laid in a solid rock tomb really come back to life, fully healthy, and leave the tomb, without disturbing the stone at the door? Was the tomb really already empty, before the angelic messenger rolled the stone back to reveal the empty tomb to the women who came to complete the embalming process? Or was it all a hoax? A nicely-told, religious myth? And, finally, does it really matter? Let’s see what God says about the resurrection.

Prophetic History:

The theme of the resurrection begins in Genesis 22, where it is hinted at, in Abraham’s obedience, attempting to sacrifice Isaac. We find, later in the scripture (Hebrews 11), that he assumed God would bring him back from the dead. The subject is broached over and over, throughout the Old and New Testaments, and runs all the way through to the Revelation. It is stated clearly, as in Job 19:25, where Job states that “I know that my redeemer liveth, and shall stand upon the earth at the last day, and, though, after my skin, worms shall devour my flesh, yet will I see him, with my eye, and not another.” How did Job know? The books of Moses were not even written yet…so either the revelation was given to him as a prophet, or it had been given to others and handed down as an oral tradition, to be confirmed in the book of Job.

Later prophets, including King David, were used to pen the scriptures telling us specifically that the Messiah would not be left to rot…that his body would be resurrected. “Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy one to see corruption…thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol/hades)” (Psalm 16:10) It would be good to remember that the Hebrew word “sheol”, translated “hell” only meant the place of the dead, and included the place then called paradise. Either way, the fact is, he was not going to stay dead, and his physical body would not be allowed to rot.

Isaiah 53:8-12 states that after his death and burial, he would live to see his “offspring”, and that after his death he would be rewarded richly. Both would be patently impossible, without a literal, physical resurrection. Jonah 1:17-2:10 tells us of Jonah’s experience with the great fish (or whale, as some translations say). This was intended as a Messianic Prophecy—the prophet did not die: but Jesus did. Jonah spoke from the belly of the fish—not from Sheol. The prophet was not raised from the dead, any more than David was, who said similar things. David was not pierced (Psalm 22); But Jesus was. And, in Mathew 12:39,40, Jesus laid hold of that particular prophecy of Jonah as the sign for unbelieving Israel—saying that just as Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish (not in Sheol), so he himself would spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth: not in the tomb, but in Sheol/Hades…specifically, in Paradise, as he promised the thief on the cross. The companion idea was that it was ONLY three days and three nights. The resurrection was not only guaranteed to happen, but it was guaranteed to happen in a specific way and at a very specific time.

In Zechariah 12:10, the Lord Jehovah—the Creator God—states that the day would come when he would return, and Israel would see him. He specified that “they shall see me whom they have pierced, and mourn for him as one mourns for his only begotten son…” In that passage we see that Jesus is

the almighty God,
in the flesh;
eternal by nature, but who
became flesh for the purpose of His work at the Cross (seen in the fact that he was pierced by them).

We see Jesus, in fact: the resurrected Messiah, confronting those He came to save—unbelieving Israel—after they crucified him. What an uncomfortable situation that will be! And yet, in that moment, he will be confronting a finally repentant nation. This still necessitates the resurrection: the future of Israel depends entirely upon the truth of the resurrection.

The Personal Teachings of Jesus…also Prophetic

All the above prophecies (except the reference in Matthew) were put in place long before Jesus walked the earth; but Jesus didn’t leave it at that. He reminded them, and underscored the resurrection truth. He told the Jewish rulers who demanded a sign, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days!” (John 2:19-21) The Jews thought he meant the temple of Herod, but, as the scripture explains, he was referring to his physical body.

When Jesus spoke to the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43), he comforted him, saying “…today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” (Incidentally, notice that he did not say “in the tomb”, but “in Paradise”.) That doesn’t specifically promise the resurrection, but it does promise a blessed life after death. But the physical resurrection of Jesus and the physical, bodily resurrection of his followers is as necessary to the Gospel as the truth of the crucifixion. The point is this:

If Jesus was not resurrected, then he was not the Messiah, since the Messiah, it was promised, was to be resurrected.
If he was not the Messiah, then he was not the Son of God.
If he was not the Son of God, literally God in the Flesh, then he was not the Savior, sent into the world by God,
And his blood could not wash away sin,
And his death was a simple miscarriage of justice, and one more tragedy to add to an already overburdened world.

Jesus told his disciples (John 10:17,18) that he had the authority to lay down his life, and to take it up again…that no one would take it from him, but He would lay it down, and take it up again. Now, either that was true, or it was not true! If it is true, then the resurrection happened, as He said it would. If it was not true, then he was either a liar, or a poor deluded fool who was about to get himself killed. Jesus demonstrated his power over death several times, raising the dead—some who were only minutes or hours dead, some on their way to their grave, and one who had been in the grave four days. There may have been more…but he gave ample evidence that he was not exaggerating.

He further states (John 10:28) that he gives his followers eternal life, and that they shall never perish. Again: either it is so, or it is not so…that is a very powerful promise. If Jesus has the authority he claims to have…and keeps his promises, then the resurrection of his followers is sure to come, as well. Job’s faith would find fulfillment in the person of Christ. Abraham would find the promise complete in his risen master. And we have something to hope for as well.

Apostolic Confirmation…and That of God the Father

Romans 1:1-4 states, concerning Gods Son, Jesus Christ, that he was “Declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” That means that the resurrection was God’s stamp of approval… God’s signature on the contract… God’s seal; saying “YES! This is my Son!”

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 1:8-12) states that He is the creator God, that he remains the same throughout the ages, and that his years shall not fail. He later points out (Hebrews 10:21) that Jesus has entered into the Holy of Holies through the veil, which is his flesh. And that he has made the way for us to follow.

In 1^st John 5:11-13, the writer states that God wants us to know that we have eternal life. He says that that life is in the Son of God. He says whoever “has the Son, has the life”…and that those who do not have Him do not have the eternal life he offers.

Can you see why the resurrection is vital to the message of the Gospel? The simple fact is that: if Jesus was NOT resurrected, we are in deeper trouble than anyone has ever thought we were in. It would mean that the person we thought was the savior was NOT the savior, but either a liar, or a self-deluded fool. That is why, in 1^st Corinthians 15:14-19, Paul points out that if Christ has not been raised:

Our preaching amounts to nothing
Your faith is futile
We are found to be false witnesses of God, because we have testified that God did raise Jesus from the dead,
You are still in your sins (no saving sacrifice—no forgiveness)
Those who have died, believing in Christ, are forever lost.

He concludes that “If we have hope in Christ for this life only (no resurrection, in other words), then we are of all men most miserable…most to be pitied. Some of the world sees us that way. Most either mock us for fools, or hate us because they first hated Christ.

But the truth still stands: the resurrection either did happen, or did not happen. There is really no middle ground. We believe it did happen, just as God says. If it did not, then all the rest of our beliefs fade into insignificance, because upon the resurrection rests the entirety of the Christian faith.

Conclusion:

What shall we do with these things, then? If I already believe in the resurrection, does it make me believe more? Or make me more emphatic in arguing with others? That is not my purpose in offering these thoughts. We frequently wonder whether it is really necessary to believe all the accounts of miracles in the Bible. We wonder, perhaps, whether at least some of them might be pious-sounding forgeries, added after the fact.

The problem with that, in this particular case, is that the forgers would have had to be able to go back and change all the prophetic writings of thousands of years of history. If that has been the reality, then the fact is, we simply do not have God’s Word. There is no evidence that this has happened; indeed quite the opposite. There is more evidence to the truth of the Bible than any other document in history.

An even larger issue, provided we are satisfied with the pedigree of God’s Word, is that this particular miracle was predicted thousands of years in advance, affirmed many times throughout history, and restated in further prophetic writings. If this one isn’t for real, we do not have a Savior. This is a miracle to stand fast upon, with no doubts.

So What Really Happened?

In accordance with prophecy, and according to the written record, Jesus arose from the dead, physically, hours before daylight, by the simple expedience of passing through the winding cloths they had wrapped him in; he folded the napkin from his face, and set it aside, and then transported himself away, by passing through the solid rock. He then waited for the women who would be the first to discover the empty tomb.

There were still sixteen Roman soldiers guarding the sealed but now-empty tomb. An angel appeared, bright, and fiercely shining, and they all fell— apparently unconscious—then, after they awakened, fled. The angel rolled the stone back from the door, and sat on it.

The women arrived, wondering how they would get in to complete the embalming process, knowing that the massive doorway stone was beyond their best efforts. They found the empty tomb with a new guard—the angel—who said “why do you seek the Living One among the dead? He is not here!”

Then Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, and comforted her: He sent her, as the first resurrection witness, to tell his disciples to meet Him in Galilee.

Sometime during that day, he met with Peter, who had some special issues to deal with. Later that evening, he met two of the apostles on the road to Emmaus, and they hurried back to Jerusalem to tell the others. Jesus showed up as they were telling about the meeting on the road, and greeted the eleven remaining apostles as a group, especially dealing with the doubts that Thomas had suffered. After that, during the next forty days, he revealed himself to a large number of disciples—once to over five hundred at a time. He later met with James, then again the whole group of apostles, just before he ascended back to Heaven. Later, still, he met with Paul, whom he had chosen to be an apostle as well.

We have the historical witness of these changed lives, the witness of the epistles they wrote, and the voice of two thousand years of martyrs to persuade us. Those of us who have placed our faith in the shed blood of Jesus as full payment for our sins have another witness—the indwelling Holy Spirit. We encourage one another, as well as all who will listen, saying “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”

Of course, if He is actually dead, and his corpse is simply gone, then, as Paul said, we are of all men most miserable… most to be pitied.

But, He’s Alive! We can see His Glory in the lives around us. We look to His coming with unspeakable Hope and Joy.

And we confirm: “He is risen, indeed!”

Scripture reference list:

Genesis 22 Isaac

(compare to Hebrews 11:17-19)

Job 19:25 My Redeemer lives

Psalms 16:10 Not left to rot

Isaiah 53:8-12 After death, shall see his offspring, and be rewarded

Zechariah 12:10 Look upon me whom they have pierced

John 2:19-21 “Destroy this temple…”

Matthew 12:40 3 days, 3 nights

(Referring to Jonah’s prophecy)

Luke 23:43 Thief on the cross…Paradise

Romans 1:4 God raised him from the dead, declared, by that fact, to be his son.

John 10:17, 18 I have the authority to lay down my life and take it up again

Revelation 1:18 he that liveth, and was dead, and, behold, I am alive forevermore

Hebrews 1:8-12 “Thou art the same and thy years shall not fail

Hebrews 10:21 entered in through the veil

John 10:29 they shall never perish

1^st John 5:11-13 Know you have eternal life

1^st Corinthians 15:19 we are of all men most miserable…

March 28, 2015

To Whom Was the Law Given?

To Whom Was the Law Given…and Why?

Galatians 3:19-29

Introduction:

I remember hearing a story, years ago, about a young man whose wife was sick, so he called a doctor for a house-call (yes, they used to have those.) The doctor arrived, and the husband was sitting nearby while the doctor was asking the young woman a series of questions. The man was something of a hypochondriac, and for every symptom the doctor asked her about, the man would say, “Well, I’ve been having that!” Finally, the doctor was exasperated: he turned around and said, “Do you mind, sir? I am trying to determine whether your wife is pregnant!”

So the twin issues of “to whom was the doctor talking”, and “why was he saying the words he said” had both been overlooked by the man in the story.

We chuckle over such stories, but we fail to see that we have done the same thing—we are trying to claim or apply promises that were not made to us, and trying to obey a law, that in any case was not for us, and in every case, was not within our capacity to obey.

Things that share similarities are still not necessarily the same. It is the differences that matter, not the similarities. When I read the book of Isaiah, for example, it sounds very much as though he is talking about our country today, but, over and over, he clearly states that he is talking about Israel, before the Babylonian captivity. The similarities are definitely there, but there is no question he is speaking to his own people, the Jews, not our country.

So, as we study the differences between Law and Grace, we need to bear in mind the following question: to whom was the Law was given…and why? But Paul addresses the “why” first, so that is what we will do, as well.

Why was the Law given?

¹⁹ Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

Interesting! The Law was given because of sin…until the “seed” (singular—Christ!) arrived, to whom the promise was made. The Law was given through a mediator (Moses) who acted as a go-between from God to Man. Jesus is a Mediator, too, but of a different sort: he brought Grace and Truth; Moses brought Law—and the attendant curse on sin.

²⁰ Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

Mediators necessarily have to go between two otherwise separated parties. Moses was one such mediator, and Jesus was another—a fulfillment of the picture that Moses made, in fact. But there was only one God involved; and only one human race (despite the many divisions, languages, nations, etc., with billions of individuals.) So, what changed between the ministry of Moses and that of Jesus? God did not change—and Man did not change either.

The two mediators work together to accomplish the will of the One God. Man had no say in the matter. Usually a mediator is requiring or at least recommending compromise from both sides in a conflict. In this case it was all about God’s will, delivered to humans by means of a mediator; two different mediators with two different tasks. In the one case, the bad news was delivered: “Man is lost and cannot save himself.” In the other case, the good news was delivered, along with a stark reminder of the bad news: “Jesus is God’s anointed sacrifice—crucified for us—by which we must be saved: and we lay hands on him, and appropriate that sacrifice by faith.”

²¹ Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

Paul concludes, then, that the Law was not contrary to the promise. It condemned the sin, but looked forward to the fulfilling of the Promise in Christ. Paul does not mention it here, but in other places it is made clear that every blood sacrifice of the Old Testament, prescribed under the Law, was a foreshadowing of Christ. The Law was a “placeholder”: it maintained the holiness of God while demonstrating the utter sinfulness of Man and providing a blood-sacrifice as a substitute for the sinner (only a temporary covering) to be entered into by faith. But the result of the Law was that all became sinners:

²² But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

This is confirmed in Romans 3:23, 24: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God… being justified freely by his Grace…” That passage is clear: it says “all” and it means “ALL”. But as we read this passage, it is important that we pay attention to the pronouns, “we”, “us”, and “you”. They are not all in reference to the same group of people.

“We, Our, Us, and You”

²³ But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

Who is the “we” in this passage? If it is in reference to the whole human race, we have a problem: the vast majority of the human race has never heard any of the Mosaic Law. How could the Gentiles have been said to be “under the Law? The Law was given to Moses, specifically to be delivered to a people called out from among the human race…they were specifically separated from the rest of the human race and called to be holy. The law was not given to everyone—just Israel. And the Law, far from providing a way to become a holy people, only condemned them for their unholiness.

The only solution ever offered by the Law was a continual flow of blood at the altar, recognizing the eternal need for cleansing. But Job, speaking centuries before the giving of the Law, knew that his Redeemer lived! He knew that the “goel”—the “kinsman-redeemer”, later described under the Law, was already alive—and he predicted the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the righteous dead which will come at the very beginning of the millennial kingdom here on earth.

Therefore, since Job, speaking before the Law, knew that the security of his own salvation rested in his Redeemer, we can conclude that the salvation that was offered under the Law, by faith, through the sacrifices, was also just as secure and just as effective as the salvation we experience. Why? He made sacrifices to God, but did so without the guideline of the Law. He did so by faith. Under the Law, the true believers followed the guideline of the Law, and brought their sacrifice, but still did so by faith. Faith is an obedient response to a revealed truth.

They were all looking forward to the Cross by faith, and we look back to the Cross by faith. One other difference, of course, is that very few believers in those times were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Today, everyone who trusts in Jesus’ full payment at the Cross for salvation receives the Holy Spirit the moment he or she believes…and whether he or she knows it or not. In the transition period chronicled in the book of Acts, there were frequently signs accompanying salvation—but they seemed to taper off toward the end of the apostolic age, and some think they have completely ceased. (There is a good deal of controversy around that point, so I am not going to address it here, since that argument has no pertinence to the passage we are examining.)

²⁴ Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Notice again the pronouns—“our, us, we”: The same individuals who received the Law and were under the Law were the recipients of the ministry of the Law.

The word translated “schoolmaster”, here, is “paidagogon”—pedagogue. (Pais = “boy”; agogos = guide) In the prevailing culture of the time, a rich father would assign an adult male slave to bring up his son—to tutor him, and bring him up to be a responsible adult. The result was to be a young man of whom the father could be proud. The pedagogue did not make him a child of his father—he only made him a respectable, responsible young man. Paul says that the Law was meant to bring “us” up to faith. Over in Romans 7:13, it clearly states that the Law was given to show the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Incidentally, from the moment that child was born, positionally he was a “son”—but until maturity came he would not be recognized as such, and had no inherited authority as yet.

Stop and think: over whose child did the pedagogue exercise His ministry? Was it to every kid in town, or just the son of the Father? Of course, his ministry was limited to the children of the covenant…the children of that Father. And when the time came to relinquish that responsibility, the pedagogue did so completely. The children were to approach the Father directly, and the Father could deal with the children as responsible heirs.

²⁵ But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Who is the “we” in this passage? The same as the “us” to whom the Law was delivered! The Jews are no longer supposed to be under the Mosaic Law, if they have received their Messiah by faith. Paul, effectively, had “graduated” and had told it to the Jews…and they rejected the message. So, what about the Gentiles? Do they have to become Jews in order to share in the blessing? Do they have to bear the burden of the Law with its curse for failure, in order to inherit the blessing of Abraham?

So, What about the Gentiles? What about You?

²⁶ For ye are all the children (huioi…sons) of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Ah! There is a change in pronouns! Now he is no longer saying “we”—not first person plural, but second person plural! (That’s what “ye” is, in Old English.) He says “You are sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ.” That is addressed to all believers!

I have never been under the Mosaic Law…but I have been “concluded under Sin”, according to verse 22 of this chapter, and also according to Romans 3:23—“ALL have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God.” (There’s that word “all” again….)

Once a pedagogue had succeeded in bringing a son up to the satisfaction of the Father, his job was done—and he was just a slave. Once the Law has completed the task of bringing a man to faith, its job is done…that man is no longer under the Law. In our culture we have no slaves and no pedagogues so it is a hard analogy for us to follow. In addition, as Gentiles, we have never been under the Mosaic Law.

The “bad news” of our sin was made clear to us by the preaching of some small portion of the Law, or possibly simply by hearing the New Testament statements of our sin. The Good News (Gospel) of Christ came in the same message, usually. But the point is clear: we are no longer under the Law, once we have come to faith in Christ. I am no longer to dread the curse of God. God no longer sees me as a sinner, in spite of the fact that I still have my old sin nature.

²⁷ For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

This statement is also addressed to “you”—all believers. But, the baptism here is not water—it is the Holy Spirit. 1^st Corinthians 12:13 states that the Holy Spirit has baptized (past tense) all believers into one body…that of Christ. That baptism is also referenced in Romans 6—no water is in any of these passages. It is the Holy Spirit in view, here…not water.

Water baptism is only an outward demonstration, symbolic of an inward reality, just as communion is a commemorative feast, declaring what Jesus has done for us. Because water baptism is something that we can do, it is also something that can be faked by an unbeliever, just as an unbeliever can take communion. But there is no faking the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We can’t see it, and there are no outward signs, necessarily. Either you are or you are not in the body of Christ—and if you are, you got there by faith, and by the work of the Holy Spirit.

There is no “litmus test”: I can’t prove that someone is, or is not, a believer. We hear the testimony of faith, and see the testimony of obedience. A serious shortfall in either one may be cause to doubt the truth of the testimony, or the source of the obedience. When we fellowship with real believers, enthusiastic about God’s Word, and earnestly seeking to obey God’s Word, then the result is genuine unity, made by God, not man. All the ecumenical “unity” that we see today, built upon compromise and humanism, has nothing to do with the Unity of the Spirit.

People who set aside the written Word of God, trying to dissolve doctrinal disunity and create artificial unity are completely ignorant of the unity that Christ, the Living Word, produces. Lives changed by the Holy Spirit grow closer together, not further apart. Consider an old-fashioned wooden wheel. If Christ is the center of each of our lives— the hub, so to speak— then as we (as “spokes”) draw closer to Him we cannot help drawing closer to one another as well. On a wooden wheel the spokes converge until at the center they are joined…actually touching one another all the way around the hub. There is coming a day when all believers will be in full unity at the Throne of Grace, and there will be no division between us.

We have unity now—we need to maintain it.

Unity in Christ

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Notice the pronoun “ye”, again: this is still addressed to all believers. He says that we are (present tense) all one in Christ. This is genuine unity. It is made by God, not Man: we are only told to maintain it, not create it. (Ephesians 4:3 says we are to endeavor “…to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace.”)

There are certainly differences from one person to another, by human standards, in terms of ability, social status, age, etc. Even under God, there are differences of gifts, and differences of maturity, along with different responsibilities and authority. But in terms of value, especially before God, the ground is absolutely level at the foot of the Cross. We need to see, here, that the differences do not in any way affect the value of the individual, nor our responsibility to maintain unity and fellowship with them.

²⁹ And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Notice the continuing use of the plural pronoun, “ye”. If you are a member of the body of Christ, having been born again by Grace, through faith, and placed into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, then the promise that the nations would be blessed through Abraham has been partially fulfilled in you, and, more to the point, because you are in Christ, you are literally part of that promised seed…not a part of Israel, or Judaism, but a living part of the Messiah, himself: a part of the Body of Christ! He is the one Seed of Abraham…and we are part of Him forever.

But, as long as we are here in Galatians 3, look back at verse 26: please don’t fail to see how one becomes a Son of God. It is “by faith in Christ Jesus”: there is no other way. Faith is the only approach to God. I cannot get to God by church attendance, by Law-keeping, or by reciting a creed, however sincerely I may do all these things. If I am not placing my conscious trust in the fact of the Cross, then I am still seeking to achieve a “do-it-yourself” relationship with God, and it simply cannot be done.

Folks say “But all people are God’s children!” We see from the scriptures that Jesus disagreed with them; he stated that “…ye are of your father the Devil, and his works will ye do!” (John 8:44). So, not all people are children of God. In fact, in Ephesians 2:3, we see that none of us start out that way, and here, in Galatians 3:26, God says we can only become a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Over in John 1:12 John states that “as many as received him, to them gave he power (exousia—authority—the right) to become (the Greek means “be born; generated”—genesthai) the children (tekna—born-ones) of God. That is the only way it can happen. That is why Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that “You must be born again!”

If you have heard the bad news of your sin, and confess that you cannot save yourself, and have placed your trust in the Good News of the Person and Work of Christ, then you are permanently a child of God, and He will continue to correct you and draw you to Himself.

Trust Him, and give Him time to work!

Lord Jesus, focus the eyes of our hearts upon you. Draw us to walk together with you in faith, love and obedience. We confess that we cannot save ourselves, nor even see how to walk with you: We need the light of your Word, and the guidance of your Spirit. Give us Grace to live for you, by your Name and by your Spirit.

March 6, 2015

Revelation 22:19

Regarding Revelation 22:19

That is a pretty hard passage, if taken as a single verse; to treat it carefully, I want to begin a few verses earlier…let’s look at Revelation 22:16-20. Also, it is important to remember that this is God’s Word…not just a dream, or anything. So it ALL has to be true, and it ALL has to hold together. We can’t just take bits and pieces and interpret in light of our opinions.

The Context:

In the previous one and a half chapters John has described the vision of the Holy City. 22:15 is the final comment about it. We saw that all those who previously rejected Christ (and who have subsequently been judged guilty and cast into the Lake of Fire) are permanently excluded from fellowship with the Living God, which is the whole character of the Holy City—eternal fellowship with God. No believer is ever characterized by his sins, in God’s eyes. He said of Israel, (Numbers 23:21) “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel”. (Really? This is immediately after he had destroyed a whole bunch of them because of sin!) This is the position of the believer with God. He does not see us as sinners, and never will.

The Invitation:

In verse 16, the narrator shifts back to a point of view from which he addresses the whole book, just as he did in the introductory passage (1:3), where he established the blessing of God to all who read (or hear) and respond in faith (faith is an obedient response to a revealed truth). He makes a present day invitation to all hearers to “come”—this is the invitation of the Lamb and the Bride (the present day church) to unbelievers, to come to Christ, in repentance and faith. It is not the same as verse 20 where Jesus says “Surely I come quickly”. This is an invitation to “whosoever will”. Notice, too that the hearers are ordered to continue to repeat that invitation: “Let him that heareth say ‘come.’” (That’s us! This is the final command to be a witness!) The Bride can only say “Come!” while she is still on earth. This is our day to serve. This is our opportunity to work with Jesus in “holding forth the Word of Life”.

The Warning:

Then comes the warning: The contrast to the blessing of 1:3, and the invitation of 22:17, here in 22:18, 19, is the consequence for those who do the opposite; those who do not come, who do not believe, and who do not obey by faith.

No believer would deliberately add to the scriptures, I think (hope): especially these tribulation saints who are already risking dying for their faith. And that brings us to an important point. Part of the curse is one that can only occur during the tribulation. How can the plagues of the tribulation (those written in Revelation) occur at any time other than during the tribulation? They are all specific to that seven-year period. That makes me think that the warning is specific to that time, as well. Another part of the curse could happen at any time: we will address that next:

We want to consider what the “Book of Life” is: I am not assuming that it is the same as the “Book of Life” in 13:8—that one is called the “Lamb’s Book of Life”, and contains the names of all the saved. The one at the Great White Throne judgment, on the other hand, in 20:12-15, seems to be the same book as this one in 22:19. I believe that book to be simply the “book of the living.” I may be mistaken, but consider this: At the Great White Throne, who is there?

Only the lost and only the dead are present to be judged (20:12). Death and Hades gave up their dead; the sea gave up its dead. Which dead? The unrighteous dead…the resurrection of the righteous had already happened, and the living wicked had just been destroyed (20:9). This is the final sentencing for the unrighteous dead, from all generations, all the way back to Cain. So, all of the righteous are alive and eternally saved, while all of the lost are dead, and awaiting eternal judgment. This is the final cleansing, in chapter 20.

The Conclusion:

After the Great White Throne, we saw the Holy City, and the eternal state of the righteous, with God. After the vision of the Holy City, the narration returns to Christ. No more future vision, but a present invitation, and a warning.

The warning is evidently primarily to unbelievers, particularly to false teachers. The threat is not that “a believer may be removed from the Lamb’s Book of life”, but that “a person who tries to alter the content of God’s Word may lose his physical life” as a result…be “removed from the book of life”, as in Chapter 20.

If it is a believer (I suppose it is possible) then they are simply taken home. Remember Balaam: he was a genuine prophet, but he went after the money, and helped the Moabites and Midianites corrupt Israel—so when Israel destroyed their enemies, he died with the enemies. But that did not change his position. The saddest thing, to me, is that the only legacy Balaam is remembered for is the evil he did. Virtually no one remembers that he was a genuine prophet, and a man of God. This is a heavy warning for pastors today, too. If we fall into sin, then that is what will be remembered by the World. Is repentance possible? Sure…but the consequences are permanent.

The evidence is strong that the only ones to whom the rest of this curse will actually happen are the unbelievers of the time when the plagues occur…the tribulation years. Otherwise it would be difficult for any of those plagues to be inflicted on them; as they are mostly world-wide plagues.

My conclusion: believers are safe in Christ, and unbelievers are already condemned. (John 3:18; 1^st Corinthians 15:22) That is how I see the passage. The invitation is to unbelievers to repent and escape that judgment. The warning is stern, but does not threaten a believer.

December 20, 2014December 20, 2014

Comfort through Christmas–all Year

Finding Comfort in Christmas Throughout the Year

To those of us who have lost loved ones, as well as those who suffer from depression, or the loss of a job, etc., Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the worst. Our society has taught us to expect sunny feelings of joy and happiness, and to expect to give and receive wonderful gifts, and that everyone will love one another, and politicians will all tell the truth… and that Santa Claus is coming…

To those of us who hurt, or who have suffered loss, all of the above seems a cruel hoax. And in some ways it is, even if those responsible meant no harm. We have been given false expectations, and have been taught to turn our eyes away from the real truth. Let’s see if we can turn that around, just for a moment, today…

The First Christmas

Consider the first Christmas…the real one…the one no one really noticed except some farmer types…shepherds, actually. It happened in a barn; a stable, if you want to be specific. No tree, no tinsel, no eggnog. “No crib, for a bed”…the only “gift” in sight was a baby. “For God so loved the World, that He gave his only begotten son…” (We don’t think of it often, but the wise men showed up quite some time later—not that day…probably not that year. But when they did, they brought gifts to HIM, and not to one another.) But those who were there—those shepherds— were overwhelmed with joy. Why?

Why The Joy?

How is it that without any of the things we think ought to be there, the partakers of the first Christmas were filled with joy? Mary was having her first baby…do you think maybe she would have liked her Mom, or an Aunt, or someone to help her? How do you suppose Joseph felt about the accommodations? And the shepherds still had to go back to those sheep, and the smelly, hard job that was their whole life. No day off for Christmas…no bonus; no free turkey, or ham, or whatever. Just… great joy.

Do you suppose they understood a little about what had happened? They were all orthodox Jews, and they, with their forefathers, had been waiting for the Messiah for thousands of years. The promises were there, for anyone to read. And the angels that showed up clearly told them that this was it: The real fulfillment of God’s real promise. Did they understand it all? Nope. They almost certainly did not. In fact, they may have had some real disappointments a few years down the road. They thought he was come to be a king (He was!), and a deliverer (he was!). But they thought he would throw the Romans out of Israel, and reign there in Jerusalem in their lifetimes. (He did not, and He never said he would.)

Their disappointments were based on false expectations, just like ours. But those who remembered could look back with wonder and recall the voices of the angels, praising God, and announcing the Holy birth. They did not cease to believe in the goodness of God, and his faithfulness.

Remember the Promise

We have forgotten what was really promised, and more specifically, how we are to take part in it. There is no promise that we will live lives free of pain. Quite the opposite…we are told that it is given unto us “…on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on His name but also to suffer for His sake.” (Philippians 1:29) That’s not what we really wanted to hear, huh?

So what really was promised, and how do we take part in God’s real Christmas? How can we find Comfort in Christmas?

To begin with, immediately after Adam and Eve fell into sin, as recorded in Genesis, God provided a plan of redemption. He said that a person would come, called the “Seed of Woman”, and this person would undo Satan’s work, done through the serpent.

The promise was repeated, with more and more details, until just before the time of Christ (actually, the last detail was given 400 years before his birth), when they pretty much knew all that was to happen regarding the Messiah. They did not understand it all, any more than we can claim to understand it all today.

But the believers, mostly Jews, had come to believe in the character of God, and they believed His Word was true. They believed his promises. When he told them to place their trust in His redemptive plan, and it involved a blood sacrifice, they brought that blood sacrifice, as directed. Did they understand it? Did they really know that all those little Lambs were pointing forward to the True Lamb of God? Somehow I doubt it.

The Promises Were Fulfilled

When Jesus was introduced by John the Baptist, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” some people may have understood the intent; most folks probably did not. But many believed that He was the fulfillment of God’s Promise. We can look back and see that they were right. He fulfilled God’s Word to the letter…even that thing about the “Seed of Woman”. (Who else in history has only one human parent?)

Jesus was born in obscurity, with shepherds rejoicing, and precious few others even taking notice. He preached in a tiny nation for three years or a bit more. He had twelve devoted followers, about ten times that who were part-timers, and thousands who claimed allegiance to him. But he was betrayed by one of those “inner-circle twelve”, Judas Iscariot, and he died a criminal’s death, condemned by Jew and Gentile alike. He was attended at His death by only one of his twelve disciples, and a few women, including his mother.

He was lent a tomb by a rich man who secretly believed. It turned out Jesus only needed it for three days and three nights, just as predicted. He was physically resurrected that third day, in spite of efforts aimed at preventing such an occurrence, and he showed himself to all his disciples, on one occasion to 500 people at once. He ascended back to God, physically; bodily, and promised to return in the same manner: Physically…Bodily.

Believing the Promise

We, who do find comfort in Christmas, whether Jew or Gentile, do so because that day was the beginning of all that was to follow. We find hope in the Christ, in the Cross, and in the empty tomb. We find hope in his resurrection, and in his promised coming again.

We find hope in His written Word, where He promised personally, that “Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)

We look back to that first Christmas and the unspeakable gift of God’s Son, and we find comfort in the Goodness of the God who gave the Gift. When we suffer losses, we look back to what our redemption really cost our Lord, and our Heavenly Father.

How can one take part in God’s real Christmas? Jesus said “He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed over from death into life.” (John 5:24)

Notice the tenses there—he covers my present, saying that because I have heard his word, and believed the promise of God, I have eternal life now…I don’t have to wait ‘til I die to see if I got “good enough grades”. He covers my future, promising that I will never be condemned by God. He covers my past (perfect tense), saying that I have permanently crossed over from being spiritually dead, to being spiritually alive.

Finding Comfort in Christmas

This is the hope of all believers. And those of us who believe, and who have lost one or more believing loved ones, have the sure hope of seeing them again. Some we are not sure of, because we can’t see their hearts, but God knows, and His justice is perfect. He loves them more than we ever could; and we rest assured that he has done right by them.

Christmas, the way the World presents it, can be very depressing, quite honestly. But the way God presents His gift it is a never-ending source of joy—not seasonal at all.

If you would like to know more about how to experience God’s joy, I’d be happy to chat with you.

To each of you, in the name of the Christ of Christmas, I wish a truly joyous Christmas season that will last throughout the year.

Blessings upon you all.

December 6, 2014December 12, 2014

Obedient to the Truth?

The Truth of the Crucifixion

Galatians 3:1

“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”

Introduction:

Paul is gently berating the Galatian believers: he states that they clearly had known the truth—that Jesus had been clearly displayed among them as having been crucified— and that there was a “truth” involved to which they had been “obedient”, but now were being persuaded to disobey.

So, perhaps we need to look a little more closely, to find out what the truth was, and how they had obeyed it, and why Paul says they are now disobeying it, so that we can gain understanding for our own lives, and avoid the trap to which they had fallen prey.

How does one obey or disobey a “truth?”

When Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21), the people were under a judgment from God, because of sin. The judgment involved thousands of venomous snakes migrating through the path of the children of Israel: many people were bitten, and many died. When the bronze serpent was hung up on the pole, the command was to “look and live!” They did not magically get rid of the venom—they did not immediately have the fang-marks in their bodies healed: they simply did not die. Had they not believed God’s promise through Moses enough to look to the serpent on the pole they would have died, regardless of their best efforts.

Consider: when we hear the truth of the Gospel, we can either believe it, to the extent of personally placing our trust in the completed work of Jesus at the Cross, or not believe it…and place our trust in something else. If we choose to trust in something else, we will eventually die in our sins regardless of our best efforts.

So, what if they had looked, believing, but the pain of the snake-bite and the earnest voices of their friends persuaded them to try some home-remedies anyway, perhaps just to lessen the pain? Did God rescind His promise and see to it that they died? No—the promise was sure—but the best their own efforts could do was to alleviate symptoms. Without that initial faith, to look to God’s solution for sin, they would have died.

In our own lives, we may have at one time trusted God to save us from our sins…but later have fallen prey to some persuasive philosophy, or our own unbelief, and have come to believe that if we do not hold our hands right when we pray, God will not hear us—or that if we do not perform some other ritual correctly, or avoid certain behaviors, etc., then God will reject us after all, and that the blood of Jesus at the Cross was, in fact, ineffective. At that point, we are disobeying the truth, because we are no longer dependent upon the Grace of the living God, and the effect of His Grace is lessened in our lives, simply because we are no longer receptive to Him…we are depending on our own works, and trying to earn His favor. Human religion can alleviate symptoms, but cannot deal with the curse of Sin. Jesus deals with the curse first, and then proceeds to deal with symptoms throughout our lives.

The Truth of the Gospel

So what is the “Truth” of the Gospel, and how do we “obey it” initially…and, more to the point, how do we obey it on an ongoing lifelong basis?

Paul recites the facts of the Gospel in 1^st Corinthians 15:3, 4, where he says that he had delivered to the Corinthians what had been delivered to Him—the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. In Romans 1:16 he states that this Gospel, being believed in, is the power of God to save those who believe—whether Jews or non-Jews. Here in Galatians he only alludes to it because they already know the facts—and have already believed them. He says that Jesus and His crucifixion had been clearly presented among them…and that they had understood it.

The truth of the Gospel involves two or three main concepts, depending on how one wants to outline the facts:

Man is lost, and cannot save Himself (which is bad news), and
God is Gracious, and has provided for salvation through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (That’s the Good News!)
All God has asked Man to do is to place his trust in that Gracious gift.

Every one of us here has heard that truth, regarding the Crucifixion, and has placed his/her trust in that gift. But the question is: can we, like the people of Israel, be guilty of turning our eyes away from the Grace of God and return to our own works? The answer, of course, is yes, we can.

So, let’s look at five aspects of the Crucifixion, and see how we can be “obedient to the truth”.

The Crucifixion was Personal

One thing I have run into periodically when attempting to share the Gospel, is the response that “Yes, I know Jesus died for our sins!” or “Well, of course, he died for the whole world!”, but when I try to pin it down, as to whether His blood was the payment for the sins of that particular individual, he or she hedges and reverts to “ …he died for the world”, or something similar.

That is a little like saying “everyone at work today signed a petition to recall the dog-catcher (or whatever)”…then someone asks “did you sign it?” and all they can get for an answer is “everyone signed it!” I am left to think that, either they did not sign the petition, or they are ashamed of having done so.

Did Jesus die for you personally? Are your sins what put him on that cross? If they are not, then you are missing the point of the Crucifixion. When the nation of Israel initially celebrated Passover, the requirement was that every single person should eat of that Passover lamb. It was not enough to just be part of Israel, or even to just be part of a household that had the blood on the lintel and doorposts: Everyone was to eat of it…personally. I must personally place my trust in Jesus’ blood payment for my personal sins.

The Crucifixion was Vicarious

When we watch adventure movies, or read adventure novels, the idea is that we can experience the wild or dangerous or creepy thing that is in the book or movie without any personal risk. I may enjoy watching some athlete pole-vault over an 18-foot bar, or shoot through some terrible rapids in a kayak, but I am never going to try it myself. I experience his victory vicariously by watching. This is called a vicarious thrill, but it is a weak example:

Webster defines “vicarious” as

1: a: serving instead of someone or something else, b: that which has been delegated <vicarious authority>

2: that which is performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or to the benefit or advantage of another: substitutionary <a vicarious sacrifice>

3: that which is experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another <a vicarious thrill>
The first two definitions are the ones we want, here: Jesus died in my place (2^nd definition) because he had the delegated authority from God to do so (1^st definition), therefore I died through him when I confirmed that delegation of authority, by faith. I did not have to personally be crucified, or have the full Wrath of God poured out upon me…I experienced it through Christ—he did it as my designated substitute.

The Crucifixion was Substitutionary

This is a part of the definition of “vicarious”, of course, but it carries a stronger idea. We have a hard time with this idea, because it carries the meaning that, “when Jesus died as my substitute, I died!”

2^nd Corinthians 5:14, 15 is a difficult passage, but critical to understanding our position in Christ: It says …”that, if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him who died for them, and rose again.” We can either accept this as a fact, and try to learn to believe it and live it experientially, or shrug it off as a mystery, and leave it for the theologians to fight over. That may be a tempting option, but it is really not a live option for a believer, simply because the scripture is absolutely true: if you have placed your faith in Christ then you are dead with him…the substitute completed the transaction in your name, and the transaction is complete! So now, whether you understand it or not, and whether you choose to respond well or not, you have a new position in Christ…and you are dead to sin…dead to the World, dead to the Law. You cannot “fit in” as do the unsaved folk around you—because you have been permanently separated from them through death. You no longer belong to the world community. You are an outcast with Christ, and are an ambassador for Him.

The Crucifixion was Efficacious

When Jesus uttered his final words from the Cross, it included one Greek word that is pretty important to us: the word “tetelestai”. It was translated “It is finished”, which is fine enough as far as an English translation goes, but, because English has so many variable and alternate meanings for words, I misunderstood this statement for years. I thought Jesus was simply saying “It’s all over! I’m gonna die now!” I thought it was the voice of defeat…but in fact, it was the opposite. It was the voice of victory!

He was actually confirming that the job He was sent to do was fully accomplished. Nothing was left to do. All the work was done. He had said earlier that he was sent to save sinners. John the Baptist had pointed him out, (John 1:29) saying, prophetically, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the World!” So—if that was what he had come to do, and if what he shouted from the Cross was that the job was complete, then I have to believe that it is true…that there is nothing left to do, in order to secure my salvation. There is no work that can be added to his completed work at the Cross.

Further, his blood successfully paid the sin debt for the whole world…there will never be a person born for whom He did not make full payment. I will never meet someone who is not on His “list”—he desires their salvation, and He has already paid the full price for it. That means, if I am living for Him, then I should desire it too—and not just as a “back-burner” afterthought—it was foremost in his mind, and should be for me, too.

The Crucifixion was Final

One of the things pointed out in the book of Hebrews, very strongly, is that, unlike the year-by-year renewed and repeated blood-sacrifices that continually covered sin, Jesus made a one-time-only blood-sacrifice that took away sin. Hebrews 10:3, 4 clearly states that those sacrifices were repeated yearly, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Contrast Hebrews 10:10, 12, “…we are sanctified (made holy) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” And “But this man (Jesus) after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.”

There is no further work to be done to pay for my salvation—it is secure forever…but if I am going to live for him, then I need to learn to see the World and the Church and all of Life through His eyes. I need to see my own life as completely belonging to Him. Remember? “I am Crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Conclusion: How can I obey the Truth?

I believe that Jesus died for me, personally—so that should make me aware that, when I sin (and I still do), those sins are part of what put Him on the Cross. This should not be a thing to be “taken for granted”. It is a serious issue.

I can be grateful that He acted in my place, vicariously, so that I do not have to personally experience the wrath of God.

I can daily practice the awareness by faith, that when He died as my substitute, I died—and that my life is never to be the same again. I am dead to the Law, dead to Sin, and dead to the World. That should be my daily concern, to live by faith in that fact.

I should have a genuine heart for the lost around me, knowing that Jesus paid for all their sins, and that their salvation is the primary concern of Christ for the World. We, as believers, have been given the job of being His ambassadors—his representatives—so we are to act in His behalf, and expressing His desires, pursuing His goals.

Finally; I can maintain the awareness that there is nothing to be added to the perfect and final Sacrifice of Christ except thanksgiving, worship, praise and Love. Romans 12:1-3 states that my reasonable service of worship is to offer myself a living sacrifice, so that He can live through me, and bless those around me through my life.

So: what was the issue with those believers in the province of Galatia? The problem was that though they certainly had known and believed the Gospel, they had later allowed someone to lure them away from at least some of the above five points, and were beginning to add works to Grace, and, effectively, to replace Grace with Law. Thus, all five realities of the Gospel of Grace had ceased to be a working reality in their lives. That is why Paul said in Galatians 5:4 “…ye have fallen from Grace”. Jesus was having no real effect in their lives, anymore, because they had embraced a “do-it-yourself” plan of approaching God, whereas Jesus had said “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me!” Did it affect their salvation? Of course not! But it terribly affected their peace and assurance, and their walk with God. They were trying to “remodel” God’s work with their own works.

As believers, with the full advantage of the written Word of God, let us try to keep in mind the full implications of the Cross, and not fall into the same trap as did the Galatian believers. Guard against legalism, and strive to embrace your new position in Christ, by faith. Yes, the result will be obedience; but it will be the result of Grace and faith, rather than Law.

November 23, 2014December 12, 2014

Dead to the Law

© C. O, Bishop, 11/21/14 THCF 11/23/14

Galatians 2:19-21;
(Compare Romans 5:1; Romans 6:1-14; Romans 7:1-6; Romans 8:1; John 5:24)

Introduction:

In the last several weeks we have been working our way through the book of Galatians. Paul’s primary three concerns, so far, have been to persuade the believers of the province of Galatia that

He had full apostolic authority, that
His Gospel of Grace was directly from Christ and that
Legalism is not from God at all.

Paul has completed his arguments regarding his own credentials. He has laid out the separate concepts of Law and Grace, and is concluding his explanations of their stark differences with a final point demonstrating what Grace actually achieves and which the Law could never have achieved.

**Dead To the Law, Through the Law**

¹⁹ For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

This is a truly profound statement. “I, through the Law, am dead to the Law…” How can that be, and what does it mean? How can I die to the Law, through the Law? What does the Law have to say to me, anyway? What is the message of the Law?

The very first mention of the principle of Law was given in Genesis 2:17: “But of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” This is the principle of Law. In some places it is referred to as the “Law of Sin and Death.” This is what Paul refers to as “the curse of the Law”— the principle is simple—“The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4)

In fact, that first Law, given before the fall of man, was quite concise: “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” And the whole human race did die, spiritually, the moment Adam ate that fruit. The curse of that original sin still hangs over us, saying, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

I sin and am hopelessly ensnared by my sin nature. Regarding me and every other human in history, since we have all catastrophically broken the holy Law of God, there can be only one sentence from that Law. The Law clearly calls for my death, and for the death of all the rest of the human race.

Jesus died as a substitutionary representative of the whole human race. When Jesus died in our place, he was fulfilling the righteous demand of the Law. He was completing the judgment of the Law against all of us. He fulfilled the Law for himself by completely obeying it. But I have already broken that Law. The Law required my death, so, Jesus died in my place. I placed my trust in His finished work; his shed blood at the Cross. But now what does the Law say regarding me?

The answer is, “Nothing!” The Law says I am dead, now. It has nothing further to say. The Law only has dominion over me so long as I live…and the Law says I am dead! Through the Law (that is, through Jesus fulfilling the Law), I have become dead to the Law.

But why? What is the purpose; just so that I escape the punishment? No; I am dead to the Law so that I can live unto God.

Dead to Sin

Over in Romans 6:1-14 Paul mentions the same idea, but does not fully explain what has happened: there, he spells out the results more fully. He says that since I am dead with Christ, I have become united with him in his burial and resurrection as well, and that I should live separated from sin. Compare Romans 7:1-6, especially verses 1, 4 and 6: You have died to the Law, so that you can bear fruit to God, and serve Him in the newness of life (eternal life). Jesus said “this is eternal life; that they may know Thee, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) Notice that in His prayer, Jesus did not mention any works at all—he said that eternal life was to be found in the person of Christ. But if we have eternal life in Christ, we are dead with him, as well, and our lives should reflect our freedom from the slavery to sin.

This is a hard concept to grasp, because, the fact is, we don’t feel dead. If it helps, remember that in the scripture, death does not mean a cessation of life, but, in all cases, it means a separation of some kind. When Adam died spiritually, as he ate that fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, he was positionally separated from fellowship with God…he was spiritually dead, the moment he ate that fruit. His wife, and in fact, the whole human race fell with him. Nothing happened until Adam ate…but Adam was acting as a representative of the whole human race, and we all fell with him.

Had he died physically in that position, separated from fellowship with God (physical death meaning his spirit and soul being separated from his physical body) then he would have been eternally separated from God (which is called “the second death” in Revelation 20:14). But God redeemed him, so that he was no longer separated from fellowship with God, and, when he died physically, 930 years later, he was still safe with his Redeemer.

Some people have criticized Christians for “redefining” death. But the fact is, these truths were laid out in the Bible thousands of years before Christ. A person can choose to believe that God lied when he said “in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”, or they can realize this is the Word of Truth, and look a little deeper. We can see that their fellowship was instantly broken and they fled from the presence of the Holy God who called to them. But their physical death was many years later. We can either learn from this or call God a liar. Further, if death was simply the “cessation of life” then a “second death” would be impossible, without a second life. And, finally, Romans 6, Romans 7 and Galatians 2 would make no sense at all, when they speak of our having died with Christ.

So, in what way am I “dead”? In the first place, I am “dead” to the Law: as far as the Law is concerned, I died with Christ. It has nothing further to say to me, because it says that I am dead. In the second place, I am separated from the Law, in the sense that, now I am personally accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ…not just to a creed, or a book of regulations that are impossible to please.

The Law not only has no further comment regarding me, because it has been satisfied that the death sentence has been carried out, but it also has no further authority over my life. I say this very carefully, because the Law is utterly holy and righteous. But my position has eternally changed: I am in Christ. His new commandment is the one to which I am now answerable. He, Himself, stated that full compliance with the twin commands “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, soul and mind”, and “Thou shalt Love Thy neighbor as thyself”, together comprise full satisfaction of the Law. (Matthew 22:35-40)

So, His command “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34, 35) also would fulfill the Law. And, you know what? Apart from the constant leading of His Holy Spirit, I still am completely unable to comply with his Law. Only now, you see, there is no condemnation, as His blood already covered all my shortcomings and downfalls: I am free to live in Him, by His Holy Spirit, without fear of punishment. That is why Romans 8:1 says “there is now, therefore, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus…”

No Condemnation to Those in Christ

This is a critically important concept, as it has bearing on two key issues: our Peace with God and our Security in Christ. Romans 5:1 states that since we have been justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have (present tense) peace with God. That is either true or it is not. If Romans 8:1 is to be believed, when it states that there is no further condemnation toward us, then Romans 5:1 is a permanent truth. Our position has eternally changed. Further, John 5:24 (Jesus speaking) states that, having placed my trust in Christ, I will never again come into condemnation. That tells me that Romans 8:1 is also an eternal truth. I am eternally secure in Christ, and it is all because I died with Him, so that the Law has no further comment regarding me. The Law says I am dead. No further charges can be laid against me.

According to Romans 6:11 it is now my daily assignment to place my trust in the fact of my death with Jesus, and live in the new freedom He has provided, using that freedom to live for his honor and glory. The reason it can work is that I have been separated from my old sin nature, just enough that I can act independently of it, if I allow the Holy Spirit to guide me and control me. If I decide that I can “do it on my own”, then my sin nature immediately reasserts itself, and, for the moment, by choice, I have again become a slave to sin. This is strictly by choice. No one can make me sin. They may plot to cause me to stumble, or even do it inadvertently, but the fact is, with the Holy Spirit living in me, the only way I can sin is by choice.

Crucified with Christ

²⁰ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

So what does it mean to be “crucified with Christ”? Does it mean that I should have some veiled memory of the cross, or that, in some mystic way, I myself have suffered with him? Nope. I don’t think it is anything quite so mysterious. I think it is pretty practical. This is the new position of all believers. We can say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live: Jesus Christ now lives in me.” It is true, in spite of the fact that, along with Paul, we also confess that our old sin nature is still present, and causing all sorts of trouble. He’ll tell us what to do about that later on.

But while we are talking about this positional truth, we need to think of the truths that accompany it. Romans 6:1-14 clearly states that since I have been crucified with Christ, sin no longer has authority in my life, either. It is one thing to assert that the Mosaic Law is no longer your taskmaster, but entirely another to state that sin no longer has rule in your life. The problem is; it is true!

Sin no longer has any legal authority in your life. You do not have to sin. You have a new nature which God says is righteous and holy. (Incidentally, from God’s perspective, this new nature is the “real you” now. Your new nature is a new Creation, created to serve God willingly and joyfully. God will not do business with your old nature at all. By the way, the new nature is not the Holy Spirit: The new nature is a created being, and the Holy Spirit is God—he is NOT a created being. The new nature is the new you, created in Christ, Holy and Righteous.)

When you do sin, whatever the issue; anger, gossip, lust, or anything else; you have made a choice at that moment to submit yourself to sin instead of to the Holy Spirit living in you. And until that lapse is confessed, and cleansed, you are, for all practical purposes, back in the flesh, and a slave to sin. It is an ugly thing to say, I know, but it is the sorry truth. We have two natures, and we must learn to walk with God, allowing the new nature to be in dominance.

**Created Unto Good Works, not By Good Works**

Over in Ephesians 2:10 we saw that “…we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” So often we twist that concept around and assume that it is by good works that our new nature has been created. Nothing could be further from the truth! The preceding lines make it clear: “By Grace ye have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it (the salvation) is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.”

We are a new creation of God, in Christ, for the purpose of good results that he has planned in advance for us. All we have to do is daily make ourselves available to him, as a tool in His hands. We cannot produce righteousness through our works, God produces righteousness, and we walk in it by faith.

Paul’s Conclusion:

²¹ I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

This is the bottom line, regarding works of the Law: If you decide that you can produce ANY sort of righteousness through keeping the Law, then you are declaring that “Jesus died for nothing!” That is a pretty heavy statement. Give that some thought: are you really willing to make that statement? If not, then think very carefully about how you view works versus grace: what you decide about those two concepts will demonstrate what you really think about Jesus in His crucifixion. Works are to be a result of Grace, not a replacement or a supplement.

We struggle with the concept, because everything in our lives teaches us that anything good costs something. And that is true! But, in this case, the cost was infinitely beyond our reach. Jesus paid the price in our place, and offers a perfect, eternally secure, right standing with God through faith in his blood.

I wish I could say that the Christian life was trouble-free, but in fact, the opposite is true. We are in a war with an invisible enemy, and only God can direct our steps. The Christian life is not hard: it is impossible, apart from God’s indwelling Holy Spirit. Keep that in mind. When we get to chapter five, Paul will have a lot to say about how to live the Christian life.

Meanwhile, let’s rest secure in the knowledge that Jesus’ blood was the perfect, permanent payment for all of the sins of the whole world. All he has asked any of us to do is to place our faith in His finished Work.

That step of faith places us in his care and under His authority. Our new position in Christ is completely secure…but not always comfortable. God takes personal interest in our personal development, just as a doting parent takes personal interest in the growth and development of a little child. Sometimes he puts us through uncomfortable experiences to make us grow into His likeness. Give Him time: believe it or not, He knows what he is doing and will continue His perfect work until the day he takes you home to be with Him. (Philippians 1:6)

Review these passages and meditate upon their teaching. This is not an easy idea to grasp, in my experience. But if you can understand the truth that you are dead with Christ, and begin to place faith in the amazing results that truth has produced, I believe you will find it more and more natural to leave behind the old patterns of life, and embrace the life of Christ in you.

Consider this, too: we often stress the fact that the believer is to feed on the Word of God, and that is certainly true. But we are also to feed on experiential obedience. Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work!” (John 4:34)

Let’s learn from Him how to feed on Him.

October 14, 2014December 12, 2014

God’s Authority in the Gospel

The Authority of the Gospel

Galatians 1:17-24

Introduction:

We sometimes think of the Gospel as “a get home free” ticket, or a “fire-escape clause”, a “lifeboat”, or simply the “bait” with which God draws people to himself. In a way, there is an element of truth to each of these oversimplifications. But the fact is; all of them miss what is surely one of the main points of the message. The Gospel has the authority of God. This is His chosen (and only) means by which he saves humans. He describes it as his power to save sinners who believe (Romans 1:16), and it is the only thing so described in scripture. Furthermore, it is not something humans would have come up with even if they could have—it is a stumbling-block to virtually everyone, at one level or another, simply because it is so not human-centered. It centers upon the Holiness of God, His Goodness, His Wisdom, and His Love. The Gospel is only “good news” to those willing to realize the “bad news”.

This explains Paul’s reaction to Christ, in a way: once Paul had his assignment, you will notice he didn’t mess around trying to “pray about it” or any other procrastinating trick that we might tend to do. He had already been praying—and blinded by God—when Ananias came in and God restored his sight. So, when the Lord Jesus also revealed his assignment, he “immediately conferred not with flesh and blood”. Paul had seen clearly the “bad news”: he had been warring against God. And he was beginning to learn the “good news”—that God could save him, and wanted to use his life; Paul was in prayer (probably lots of confession) and fasting, when Ananias came to see him. He was still physically blind until God restored his sight. He had a new life; restored with a purpose…he was an Apostle. It was not up to other humans to tell him what God had already told him. It was up to Paul to obey. He understood the authority of the Gospel, and is trying, still today, to convey it to his readers.

Faith is an Obedient Response to a Revealed Truth

¹⁷ Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

He had no need to go talk to them…he was doing what he was told to do, and going where he was sent. He believed Jesus was who he said He was, and had received proof in his own life. He had an assignment Ananias was told by Jesus that Paul was to be a chosen vessel for Christ;’ that he would bear the name of Christ before the Gentiles, and kings, as well as to Israel. Jesus said, “I will show him how great things he must suffer for my sake.” (Acts 9:15, 16) So Paul was convinced, and was immediately obedient. You may remember other people in the Bible who responded in similar fashion…Abraham, for example. But Paul goes on to say,

¹⁸ Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

¹⁹ But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

²⁰ Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.

This is pretty important in Paul’s mind: he wanted his readers to know that, while the message he preached was completely in agreement with that of the eleven, his message was not dependent upon theirs at all: both came straight from the same source; Jesus Christ. Paul had known the Lord for several years before he ever even met the other apostles. And the first time he met any of them it was only for a brief visit with Peter and James.

So when did Jesus teach Paul? During the three year interval before he saw Peter, evidently. Some time in Arabia, and some time in Damascus. Remember, Damascus was where he was headed when Jesus stopped him (Acts 9), and he had been going there specifically to arrest the Jewish believers living there. (I wonder what their first response was when he showed up as a believer. Probably the news had gotten around, as it was Ananias, a believer from Damascus, who was sent to restore his sight.)

He apparently had a brief time in Arabia, and then went back and spent time preaching in Damascus, and fellowshipping with the Jewish believers there, until the unbelieving Jews tried to kill him, and the believers had to smuggle him out of town. It seems that that was when he first went back to Jerusalem. The believers there were afraid of him, because they had not yet heard of his conversion. Barnabas took him to the apostles but evidently the only two apostles available on that particular trip were Peter and James, (cp. Acts 9:27), and he was introduced to them by Barnabas. Barnabas later became Paul’s partner in the preaching of the Gospel, and was also called an apostle, by Luke, in Acts 14:14.

I don’t really know why anyone would doubt the truth of what Paul shared here, regarding his behavior after having met Jesus. It seems it was common knowledge, by that time. Perhaps he was simply reiterating the fact that his message was not a “spin-off” from that of the eleven, but had been received directly from the risen Jesus Christ. All he can offer to doubters is to call God as his witness, to show that he is not lying. The doubters were not there, when any of these things happened, and he was there. It is an eyewitness account. The Apostles who received him at Jerusalem were still alive and could confirm it, if anyone wanted to ask. Undoubtedly Ananias, of Damascus was still available, too. But God had already borne out the truth of Paul’s testimony in his own life, and in the works of an Apostle that he had done among them there in the province of Galatia. They should have known all this, but Paul brings it all into focus again, in an attempt to present the Gospel he preached as being fully authoritative.

The Authority of the Gospel

The authority of the Gospel is an important point: Either this is just Paul’s opinion, in which case we can take it or leave it; or it really is the Word of God, and we have to take it as having the full backing of God. Peter confirms later that Paul’s writings were scripture. (2^nd Peter 3:15, 16) So, while you can still “take it or leave it”, you need to be aware that it is God you are responding to, not just a human author.

Paul continues to share how his life in Christ had begun: he says,

²¹ Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;

²² And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:

²³ But they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

²⁴ And they glorified God in me.

Paul’s point, continuing through these verses, and beyond, is that his message and his ministry came directly from the risen Christ, not from those who were apostles before him, nor from the organized church, or a body of elders, or any other human source. He didn’t go off to Seminary, or seek Holy Orders, or the blessing of a cardinal or pope. He didn’t even go to the County Seat and get a ministerial license. He simply went right to work.

He never even met the churches in Judea, or the remaining apostles until years later. They’d heard of him, all right, by that time; they heard that the one who had been devastating the church was now building it and edifying it: he was strengthening the believers; and the churches in Judea were excited to hear it. They knew it could only have happened by the power and grace of God; by a supernatural intervention, not by human wisdom or force of argument. This is a pretty important idea…we do not need to concern ourselves with human wisdom, forceful arguments, etc. as they virtually never bring people to Christ. We need to seek supernatural intervention. We do so by prayer …and the preaching of the Gospel.

Proof of the Gospel

By the way, the change in Paul’s life is further proof to us, as well, of the Divine source of the Gospel: it transforms lives. Not just by “invigorating” people who were already of a “religious” bent or that were the “goody-two-shoes” sort; but rather by turning around those who were violently opposed to the message. It perhaps could be argued that Paul was both, as he was deeply involved and committed to the religion of the Jews— Judaism— and was a righteous man by Jewish standards. But he was violently opposed (literally) to the message of Salvation through Jesus Christ, and was in the business of tracking down Jewish believers, arresting them, and hauling them back to Jerusalem to face trial. He was a bounty-hunter, if you will—armed with documents giving him authority for search and seizure, and he was headed for Damascus when Jesus intervened personally. He was a one-man Inquisition. But God stopped him and turned him around. He was transformed by the Holy Spirit.

God is still transforming lives today. In my own case, I was an atheist, and dogmatically so. God gave me the opportunity to watch the lives of new believers changing around me, my last year in High school. I had known several of them before they were believers, and I saw the undeniable change in their lives, after salvation. It brought me to the conviction that there was something real going on, and made me receptive to re-thinking my own condition. I eventually saw that I myself was a lost sinner. I tried to change on my own, and found it was beyond my ability to produce consistent change. (I still find it so, as a matter of fact.) Eventually I threw myself on the mercy of God as a helpless, hopeless sinner, which is exactly what He calls us to do.

We don’t like those three words, though: “helpless”, “hopeless” and “sinner.” “Guilty” is another word we avoid today. But all are facts, and unless you recognize them in your own life you will not find a place for the Gospel in your heart. Jesus only offers to save helpless, hopeless, guilty sinners. Not those who feel guilty: guilt is a fact, not a feeling. I usually experience guilt feelings when I am guilty, however, there is such a thing as false guilt, which is feeling guilty about something that is truly not your fault. You can bring that on yourself through wrong thinking, or someone else can load it on you, through casting blame. It is very destructive, because there is no real release except a change in thinking, which is difficult to achieve. Real guilt can be dealt with at the cross, through confession.

The result of Paul’s salvation was that other believers glorified God in him. In fact, one result of the salvation of any sinner is that other believers glorify God in them—we recognize the hand of God in the salvation of any soul, and we give thanks and Glory back to Him. That is called Worship, and God surely deserves it at every level.

The Wisdom of the Gospel is of God, Not of the World

Over in 1^st Corinthians 1:17-25, (read it) Paul is addressing a different group of believers, with the same sort of message: the centrality and authority of the Gospel. He had already run into those who counted themselves too smart for the Gospel, or too good for it. In Athens (Acts 17) he had preached a sermon geared to popular appeal, which is still, today, touted as one of the great examples of fine preaching, and it is frequently used as a “textbook case” in homiletics classes in Bible schools and seminaries. But the actual results of that sermon (results are a good thing, right?) were very lackluster…and, the very next place he went (Corinth), Paul had determined to do things differently.

Paul stated that “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel…” (The context, here, was that the people were already beginning to form schisms in the church based on who their mentors had been: who led them to Christ, who baptized them, etc. “Denominations”, if you will, were beginning right then, and Paul was trying to put a stop to it. He said that the Gospel was the key issue.)

He said he was supposed to preach the Gospel “…not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” (It is evidently possible to render the Cross powerless, if we drape it in too much human “razzle-dazzle”. We can either use light to reveal truth, or we can use it in such a way that all it breeds is confusion. Consider what light does in the mirrors of a mirrored maze.)

Paul went on to state that the lost world pretty much uniformly sees the preaching of the Cross as foolishness. They are “…too smart for that tripe!” Or, in the case of those deeply entrenched in religions, they may see themselves as “too good” for it. They don’t need a savior—they aren’t sinners! Funny, while Jesus did die for the sins of the whole world…because all of us are sinners… he clearly stated that he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. People who don’t see themselves as lost have no felt need for a savior. So they reject the message out of hand…and all the more angrily, as they feel you are suggesting that they are sinners. (Well… yeah, as a matter of fact…!)

But then he points out that God’s wisdom sees that the World’s wisdom will not bring people to Christ…ever. (“After that, in the wisdom of God, the World by wisdom knew not God…”. So, he says, “…it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

In contrast, God says he will destroy the “wisdom” of the “wise”—that is, the “worldly wise”, because that sort of wisdom always seeks an avenue by which it can deny God, or at least deny the person of Christ.

In Romans 1:21, 22, Paul says, “…because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…”

Is it possible for a human to be wise? Sure, provided the wisdom comes from God! Human wisdom inevitably leads a person to pride, and the conclusion that he or she does not need God. And even among believers, Human wisdom only leads to contention and self-centeredness. James says that human wisdom that is not from God is “…earthly, sensuous, and devilish”. Those sorts of things do not lead a person to Christ. Human wisdom that comes from God is “…first pure, then peaceable, and easy to be entreated…” That is a whole different outlook.

Conclusion:

We can take Paul as our example: We can choose to have his priorities, and mimic his response to God. In fact, Paul suggests that we do just that: He says “be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1^st Corinthians 11:1)

So, as we continue to read through the Epistle to the Churches of the Galatian province, be on the lookout to see things from Paul’s example that you can emulate to one degree or another. Remember; if you are a believer, then the letter is to you, too.

As you read, remember the Divine authority of the Gospel…God is not begging, trying to get you to change your own life—it can’t be done. He is gently commanding you to allow Him to transform you, as he did Paul, and as He has transformed every believer in history, when they stopped rebelling and allowed Him to do His work.

The way He intends to do it is through the written Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit. You can’t hope to have God change your life if you ignore His Word. You can’t hope to have Him change you if you ignore the Holy Spirit, either—and the two always work together. The Spirit will never lead you where the Written Word does not also (implicitly or explicitly) direct you.

It takes effort…you can’t just wait around hoping that God will jump on you and change your heart. If you think it seems hard, remember all the things Paul endured.

Paul told the Church at Philippi, “Unto you it has been given, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in His name but also to suffer for his sake!”

Guess what? That letter is to us, as well.

September 13, 2014September 28, 2014

God’s Curse on Preachers of a false Gospel

Amazing Folly and an Awful Curse

Introduction:

One of the things we can see, early in the preaching ministry of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:42-45, 50; Acts 14:4, 5, 19; Acts 15:1, 2, 5-11; etc.) is that the unbelieving Jews were violently opposed to the preaching of Grace, especially since it was associated with the person of Jesus Christ. They felt quite sensitive, nationally, regarding Jesus. They were keenly aware that as a nation they had given him over to the Romans, to be crucified. But even the Jews who claimed to believe the Gospel were pretty insistent that the Gentiles had to effectively become Jews to be saved—undergo circumcision, and keep the Law.

Today, we might be inclined to think that this was specifically a Jewish problem, because, after all, why would a Gentile, to whom the Law was never given, try to make everyone keep it? But the fact is: the problem of legalism is universal among humans. We all want to believe that we can please God in our flesh—that we can clean up our lives and devise our own means of approaching God; and that He, on His part, will be ever so grateful that we humans have deigned to give Him our attention. Doesn’t something sound wrong about that?

Doesn’t that sound, in fact, quite backward? If God is really the sovereign master of all things, doesn’t it follow that HE, not we, should determine the “rules”, so to speak? When you go into a human courtroom, do you tell them how it is to be run, or do they tell you? When you hire on with human employers, do you tell them how their business is to be conducted, or do they tell you your job? Pretty silly questions, are they not? And yet, for some reason, we humans think we ought to be able to make up our own “truths” concerning God, and that He should then toe the line and be whatever we imagine Him (or her?) to be. Cain thought he could make the rules, too, even though he knew what God had decreed. King Saul kept fudging the truth, and twisting the words of God, to justify himself. This is the “default value” for the entire human race. We think we are in charge, and will, at the very least, “rewrite the script” so that we can seem righteous.

The fact is, God does tell us how things really stand between us and Him: and it isn’t a good story. That is the “bad news”, in fact, that makes the Gospel “Good News”. He says, “…all have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God” Romans 3:23 (That’s bad news!). He also says, “The wages of Sin is Death…” (More bad news!) Fortunately, He further says, “…but the gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) That is the bad news and the Good news, and both are pretty clear:

We are all condemned to die, because of sin, and
Eternal life is only available as a gift from God, through Jesus Christ…period.

That is simple enough for anyone to understand and for any of us to share. And that is the message these folks had already heard and believed.

Amazing Folly

⁶ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

⁷ Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

The folks to whom Paul was directing this letter (remember, it is to us, too!) had all originally heard and understood and believed that Gospel message; that is why he calls them “brethren”, in verse eleven and other places. He clearly states (later on) that they had received the Lord by faith—that they had been saved by the Grace of God. And his question comes straight from his heart: “Why on earth would you toss aside a precious gift like that and try to build your own salvation?” He says, “I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you unto the Grace of Christ, unto another Gospel!”

Paul could have been referring to the fact that he himself had called them via the True Gospel of Grace, but I tend to think he is referring to God, possibly in the person of the Holy Spirit. He told the church in Ephesus that there is only “one hope of our calling” (Ephesians 4:4)—so I think that if the hope of the calling is the same for all believers, then the caller has to be the same for all believers, as well. Romans 8:29, 30 states clearly that every believer is called by God. If God called you to Himself, to receive eternal life by Grace, though faith, then to turn your face in any other direction is to “turn away from Him who called you”. Paul was shocked to hear that they had already fallen prey to the legalizers who had followed him and Barnabas around, trying to dilute or supplant the message of Grace. (There is a God-given purpose for the Law: we will see later what that purpose is: but it cannot save. Only grace can save!)

Paul points out right away that there is really only one “good news” that is from God. The people preaching “Grace plus Law”, or “Law instead of Grace”, or whatever combination they came up with, were not really bringing a “different gospel”—they were subverting the faith of believers who had been on a right pathway, and perverting the Gospel of Grace so that it was no longer good news at all.

So what happened? How could anyone toss aside a great offer like that?

As it turns out, the idea that “I can (and/or must) do something to please God in order to be saved” appeals to our sin nature. We like the idea that we can control our destiny. People write poetry about it. (“Invictus”, by William Henley, is a prime example, where the writer grimly boasts “I am the master of my fate –I am the captain of my soul!” In reality, nothing could be further from the truth! But we want to believe it. This is nothing new.

Consider Genesis 3:7-10

We saw in the Garden that the very first response of Adam and his wife, when they discovered that they had become sinners, was to attempt to cover their own sin with the works of their own hands. (Remember the fig leaves?) They saw that they were naked (awareness of guilt), and they sewed together fig leaves to make aprons with which to cover their nakedness. On a horizontal, strictly human level, as they saw each other, they may have felt that the effort was quite successful…perhaps they even congratulated themselves that their new outfits were “…quite stylish…definitely an improvement over plain skin, don’t you think?.”

But what happened when God showed up? Remember, they “heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day” (by the way, as we discovered earlier, that was the pre-incarnate Jesus, in person)…and what was their response? They ran and hid. Why?

They themselves answered that question: “We were afraid, because…we were naked.” The human works accomplished nothing at all, when God was in the picture…they were still naked in His sight…and they knew it. By the way, God is always “in the picture!” We are never hidden from His sight. The only covering we can ever have is the one He provided, at the Cross. When we sing the Hymn, “The Solid Rock”, we say “When Christ shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne!” We need to be clothed by Him. Adam and Eve believed God, and He clothed them in the skin of the first blood sacrifice, looking forward to the Cross, still 4000 years in the future.

God warned the believers at Laodicea (Revelation 3) that they were poor and wretched and naked. They were believers…but had become accustomed to clothing themselves in their own, home-grown, self-justifying self-righteousness. And Jesus was warning them that they were just as naked as if they weren’t saved at all. It is even possible that some of the “members” there were not believers. But the warning was to a church, not a city council. We have to assume that the majority of the people he was warning were simply backslidden Christians.

God is Very Serious about the Gospel

What does Paul say about these folks who want to “re-write the Gospel” to make it read, “Well, yes, sin is pretty bad, all right; so you need to do a lot of good works to make God accept you.”? Or those who say, “Well, yes, Jesus died for your sins all right, but if you expect Him to keep you, you’ll have to do enough good works to earn your keep.”? Here is what He says:

⁸ But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

⁹ As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Accursed!

This is a pretty strong statement. Let’s think through what he is saying, and consider why He says it. We have already determined that Paul was speaking to the believers in the province of Galatia. Actually, as we read through the missionary journeys of Paul, we can see that Paul probably led a lot of these people to Christ—his second missionary journey led through their area, at least, and some of the towns he preached in were definitely in that area.

He knew they started off with the pure Gospel, because he himself had personally delivered it to them. The Gospel he preached was the good news that:

Jesus Christ died as full payment for their sins, and that
He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day, and that
All God was asking them to do was to believe His word regarding that full payment, and trust in Him for salvation.

So, how can someone be deceived, and drawn away from such a clear message? Why would someone find legalism attractive at any level?

The Legalizers

The fact is, we are the willing victims of our own sin, and we are willingly deceived:

by our own deceitful hearts (Jeremiah 17:9),
by the Evil World in which we live, (1^st John 2:15-17) and
by Satan himself, the original Deceiver. (Revelation 20:7, 8, 10)

We are not able to save ourselves, nor can we even bring a clean sacrifice to a Holy God. Everything we touch is contaminated by our sin. But we don’t like to admit that; not even quietly, to ourselves…especially not to anyone else.

So when someone comes along and says that we have to do something special for God, in order to be saved, we jump to believe it. It makes sense to us. Everything has a price, after all! But we do not realize the unfathomable riches of God’s Grace, and the fact that the price we offer, no matter how dear, is a laughable pittance, contaminated by sin at best, and an mortal insult to One who gave His only begotten Son for us.

Consider how you would feel, had your son or daughter willingly sacrificed his or her life to save someone else from death, and that person later offered you money: not as a gift of thanks, but to “pay for” the life of your child. What value could you settle on as being a “right price?” (Give that one some thought!) To a good parent, there is no amount, as a payment, that would be satisfactory, when their life had been given as a gift. It is an insult to even consider such a thing. It cheapens the gift, and despises the giver. Would you ever be able to forgive a person who tried such a thing?

As a matter of fact, God does offer forgiveness even for that sin…but he does not take kindly to folks who deliberately lead others astray, and thus keep them from receiving his Grace. He sees it pretty much the same as we would. People whose children have died from drug abuse do not think kindly of drug dealers, do they? And God has seen every single one of the human race who are precious to Him, dead because of Sin. He has given his own life to save them, and here is someone trying to turn people away from His Grace? What would your reaction be?

The fact is that God has placed a curse on anyone who ispersuading people to:

Deny their sin (saying that Jesus died needlessly, in his/her particular case)
Replace Grace with Works (thus offering a payment for His gift), or
Adulterate Grace with Works (thus denying that the gift of Christ was enough).

He minces no words, here! If you teach some other Gospel (one of those three listed options) then you are in deep trouble with God. God makes the rules! No one has the right to change them. Also, don’t get the idea that the “rules changed”, in moving from the Old Testament to the New:

No one has ever been saved by works. Abraham believed God and God counted it to him as righteousness. Adam believed God, and God clothed him in the skin of a blood sacrifice.
No one has ever been kept by works. Ezekiel says that if you depend on your own righteousness, then the day you sin, all your righteousness will be rendered void, and you will die for your sin. (Ezekiel 33:13)
The only thing different is how people are to express their faith. The Old Testament believers looked forward to a coming sacrifice they only vaguely understood. They offered the required blood sacrifice for sin, believing that God would honor His Word. We look back with a completed revelation, to a sacrifice we still only vaguely understand. We believe that God will honor His Word, and we, too, trust in Jesus’ blood at the Cross.
Both groups—Old and New— are utterly dependent upon the Grace of God. Both are saved by that Grace…through Faith.

God says if it is byGrace, then it is not by works—and if it is by works, then it is not by Grace. The two are mutually exclusive. (Romans 11:6) The only good works that God asks of us are as a result of having already received His priceless gift. The gift was not to be earned by works, neither is it kept by works. It is all by Grace. We only serve out of Love and thanksgiving.

Conclusion:

We saw earlier that whenever a person preaches against Grace, and supplants it with Law; that person, whether they know it or not, is working with Satan to prevent the salvation of lost people, and to prevent the effective service of believers who have already trusted in God’s grace.

Can you see why God would feel strongly about the practice of mixing Law with Grace for either Salvation or Sanctification? It cannot result in either Salvation for the unbeliever or Holiness for the believer. In both cases, it results in slavery to outward demands of legalism, and in the unbeliever’s case, it results in eternal loss in the lake of fire. What a horrible thing to do to other people!

So, how can we apply this idea? The most obvious thing is that when someone comes to my door telling me that I need to approach God differently than what it says right here, I will know that they are under a curse. I will not believe them, nor “study with them”, or anything else they want me to do. They are under a curse, and all I can offer them is the Mercy of God through the Cross.

We also need to be wary of “human wisdom” that suggests a “sure-fire plan” by which we can make ourselves acceptable before God. There is no such thing. God’s plan is very simple, and (possibly) boring: We are to trust God for salvation, through Jesus’ finished work at the Cross. We are then to trust him daily for the Holy Spirit’s guidance as we study His written Word, and learn obedience. No magic, here, folks…the song “trust and obey” pretty well says it all.

In my own life, if I catch myself thinking that the things I am doing are somehow “making me OK with God”, then I can back off and remind myself that the Blood of Jesus is the ONLY thing that can make me acceptable in His sight.

Finally, if I find myself judging other believers because they “aren’t living up to my standards”, I can be reminded that they, too, are under the Blood, and that God is able to make them stand. They are serving Him, not me.

May the Lord help us to recognize Law and Grace, and keep the two concepts separate. Amen!

August 31, 2014September 28, 2014

Introduction to the Galatian Epistle

An Introduction to the Galatian Epistle

Introduction:

The letter to the Galatians is dated around 60 AD, and was possibly written from Rome (according to the Greek end-note text which may or may not actually be part of the Scripture). There seems to be a good deal of disagreement amongst scholars about where Paul was when he wrote this epistle. Some say Corinth, some Ephesus, and some Antioch. In a way, I really don’t think it matters where he was: the recipients knew it was from Paul, and they undoubtedly knew where he was at the time. One thing special about this epistle is that he personally wrote it, as opposed to having another person act as his scribe, which was his usual practice. (We will see the evidence for that in the last chapter.)

Another thing unusual about this epistle is that it was to several churches as a group; it was not addressed to a single church and then to be passed around. The recipients were the believers across the region of Galatia, a portion of what we now call Asia Minor. They were distinguished not only by where they lived but from whence their ancestors had come. (Schofield points out that they were relatively recent immigrants from Gaul.) Also, it was a political domain; a region determined by the Roman Empire, to which all the Mediterranean area belonged. So: unlike some of the epistles which were to one church in a particular city, this was to all the churches in the region, or province, of Galatia.

Paul had heard that these believers had been targeted by false teachers who were rapidly convincing them that unless they kept the Mosaic Law, they could not be saved. This doctrine actually had begun almost immediately; as soon as the true doctrine of Grace had been preached, the legalizers were right behind it, trying to negate the work of Grace. We saw that in the Book of Acts, but people are still doing this today. Perhaps such people think they are doing something for God, but the results are terrible. The tendency of the human heart is to desire to believe that “I can save myself!” or at least, that “I can do something to earn God’s favor”. And the result is that we invariably replace Grace with works. Why? Because Grace is specifically “un-earned favor”—unmerited favor: if it is earned, it is no longer Grace: the two concepts are mutually exclusive.

Consider, too, that false teachers, whether they know it or not, are partnering with the Enemy, in trying to prevent the salvation of souls. Some may genuinely think they are helping the cause of God, but Paul makes it clear that they are definitely not helping, but rather thwarting God’s plan.

One of our deacons was present when his (then) employer (a now-deceased member of this church) graciously attempted to share the Grace of God through Christ with a client (just what Galatians teaches). The client was quite wealthy, and a member of a religious sect that favors legalism over grace. When offered God’s Grace, the client answered “I don’t need that!” He pointed to a beautiful church building in the distance: “Do you see that church? I built it! My name is on it! I don’t need a savior: my position with God is secured by my works!” He was completely serious in what he was saying. It is especially sad to hear such a thing, as that man has since died, and met his maker: Did he meet his savior, or his judge? I suppose that it is possible that he had changed his mind before he died, but my guess would be that he had not. From human perspective, he may have seemed a good man: but from God’s perspective he was a lost and guilty sinner, trying to bribe the Judge. (How does that work out in our courts?)

So the temptation of legalism is not really that it adds to Grace, but that it supplants it. There are always some who hedge a little, and maintain, “Well, we are saved by Grace, but we are kept (and sanctified) by works!” This doctrine still sets aside God’s Grace, in that the Holy Spirit, indwelling the believer, is the only one who makes us holy before God (that’s sanctification), and the one who keeps us, actually sealing us in Christ until He, himself, comes to retrieve us.

The simple fact remains that if at any point my salvation or my sanctification is dependent upon my works, then ultimately both are entirely dependent upon my works, as the works are unquestionably the “weak link” in that chain.

These are the two errors Paul was writing to correct, but he had other things to teach the churches, as well. He revealed things, here, about his personal testimony that we do not find elsewhere. He let us know how he himself received the Gospel. He gave the believers instructions as to how to walk with God.

Galatians Chapter 1, verses 1-5

¹ Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

Paul clearly states his credentials in the opening verse, and then goes on to substantiate them later on. To begin with, he says that he is an apostle. The word “apostle” means “sent one”…a person sent as an ambassador, a representative, and a messenger. So he is sent by someone and is representing someone…not even necessarily the same one. An ambassador is usually appointed, not elected, so that ambassador may be representing a nation, none of whose citizens ever personally approved his appointment, or possibly even have heard of him. (Who is the United States ambassador to Peru right now? Or to France? The fact is, they are representing your government, but you don’t know who they are, let alone having elected them, chosen them or sent them.)

But Paul said that he is not an apostle of men…not representing any humans, as an ambassador. He also says that he is not sent by man. No human sent him. He says that he was sent by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him (Jesus) from the dead. He is an ambassador of Christ. He has stated his credentials—he is divinely chosen, divinely appointed, and divinely sent. He will tell us more later on.

² And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

Paul continues his formal greeting in the same general format he always uses (“Paul [and whoever else] to [whomever is receiving the letter]”). This was a pretty standard salutation in letter-writing at that time, though it may seem odd to us. We have other examples of letters in the Bible, written at about the same time and in similar location, and they all follow a similar style.

Paul has already listed himself as the speaker, and now he lumps the rest of the people with him into one group greeting the recipients: “all the brethren which are with me”. We don’t know the names of the brethren who were with Paul at that time. Paul was not being personal here; he was being polite. But who is the letter to? This epistle is slightly unusual as it is clearly directed to all the churches in a general area, rather than a single church. We will also notice that in the closing, in chapter six; rather than passing along greetings to individuals as he frequently did, it is entirely impersonal, beyond the fact that he addresses them all as his “brethren”, thus recognizing that they are born-again individuals.

It may or may not be important to remember that the churches were each autonomous…self-supporting and self governing: he did not address himself to the “Abbot of Galatia”, or the “Archbishop of Galatia”, but to the Churches, plural. There was no central authority over a group of churches. Jesus is the head of the Church, period! And the Church universal is made up of all the believers from all the local assemblies in history.

Furthermore, we discover in other passages that when he gave the assignment to Timothy and Titus to “build up” the churches and “set things in order”, he said to “ordain elders (plural) in every church (singular)”. So all the churches to which Paul was writing had multiple leaders, and he did not address this letter to any of them. He addressed it to the churches: the assembled believers. The elders and deacons were simply part of those churches. There was no special hierarchy whereby the leaders got special attention from apostles. To put it bluntly; if you are a born-again believer, today, then this letter is to YOU. Take it personally!

Grace and Peace

³ Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Even though, in every case, the people he was writing to were already believers, Paul always listed these blessings in this same order… in every case it is Grace, then Peace. That is the order in which we receive those two. In Salvation, we receive God’s Grace (which was extended to us in the person of Christ) through faith, and, as a result, we are permanently at peace with God. (Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:8, 9) This is a positional truth: Once you have placed your faith in him for salvation, the Grace of God is permanently and unconditionally applied to your life, and you have Peace with God, forever. Believe it!

As believers, we place our trust in Christ daily for wisdom, guidance and sustenance…or we don’t. He sustains us daily by His Grace, and we have the peace of God…or we don’t: the choice, daily, moment by moment, is our own. (Philippians 4:6-9) Those two are intertwined, but the order is always “Grace then Faith, resulting in Peace”. In the believer’s daily life, they are always conditional upon continuing faith and obedience. The Peace of God is Conditional.

We will soon focus on the second aspect of Grace, but it may be good to remember at this point that, while the Law came through Moses (John 1:17), Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And Peace always follows Grace. So how would the recipients of the Law have found Peace? They could only find Peace through Grace, even in the time of Moses. Noah, roughly 1500 years before Moses, found Grace in the eyes of God. That is where his peace came from. The Law had not been given…but Grace had preceded the Law. And it has been the only path to God ever since the Fall of Man.

Adam lived long before either Noah or Moses was born: long before the giving of the Mosaic Law. The only Law he had known was the one command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (“In the day that thou eat it, thou shalt surely die.”) He broke that one command, and plunged himself and all his progeny into ruin. Spiritually, he died on the spot. God says in Revelation 13:8 that the preparation had already been made for the salvation of the Human Race: Jesus is the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the Earth…not from the Fall of Man. So how was Adam saved?

Genesis 3:7-20 God responded to the Sin of the human race with the Curse—it affected the snake, proper (no more legs, no more nice food; permanent enmity between snakes and people…as a rule) it affected Satan the “Old Serpent” in a way a little harder to see, but you will notice that the Promise of the “Seed of Woman”, coming to crush the Serpent’s head, is not directed to the offspring of the snake, but to the Serpent, proper. (“He will crush YOUR head!”) It affected the woman, causing pain in childbirth AND an ongoing struggle between the woman and the man…the “desire” mentioned here is not an affectionate or a passionate desire, but a desire to control…and it has had a permanent affect on history. The Curse affected the Ground, for Adam’s sake; it would no longer easily bear fruit for the human race. And, finally, it affected Adam along with the whole creation; death had come, and all things were now destined to die.

Adam could have just collapsed in the glare of God’s wrath, and died without hope…but he saw hope in the wording of the Curse, and he believed God. He named his wife “Eve” (mother of all the living) because he believed in the Coming Savior—the Seed of Woman! That is faith! In fact, it was specifically saving faith. God recognized it and covered their sins with a blood sacrifice. He killed animals in place of the humans, and clothed them with the skins of the dead sacrifice.

Abel understood the family history correctly, and he brought a blood sacrifice. So have all the believers in history. Those of the Old Testament were all looking forward to a coming Savior, ultimately looking forward to the Cross, though probably (mostly) they did not really understand what was to come. We believers in the New Testament era are looking back to the Cross, and our blood sacrifice, like theirs, is the Person of Christ. My opinion is that we probably don’t completely understand what happened at the Cross, either—but we believe God, and trust in the shed Blood of the Savior. He extended His Grace through the Cross—and that is the only way He has ever done it. We humans have always been saved by Grace, through Faith, plus nothing.

So what about Jesus’ death at the Cross?

What really did happen there? What was accomplished? What was the intent?

⁴ Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

We know that He died for our sins, and we frequently act as though it was just to save us from the eternal consequences of our sins…but here he says that he died for us that he might deliver us from this present evil world (or age)…and that this, in fact, is the will of God, our Heavenly Father. If that is so, then in order to fulfill God’s will in our lives we should see the grip of this World loosening its hold upon us; and our lives more and more reflecting the Person of Christ.

If all Jesus has managed to do in your life is to save you from Hell, then God’s Will is not being carried out in your life. I’m not being critical…this is what God says about the crucifixion.

Have you been born again? If so, are you also being delivered from the grip of the World on your life, your thoughts, and your morals? There are three aspects of salvation:

The first aspect, we already mentioned…we have been saved (past tense) from the eternal penalty of sin. God will never again seek to administer judgment for our sins, as His justice was fully poured out at the Cross.
The second aspect doesn’t get talked about as much, but it is just as real, and here, remember, he clearly states that it is the will of God, who has already saved us and made us his children: He wants us to be saved (present tense) from the power of sin in our lives—to be delivered from the present effect of Satan, the World, and our old sin natures. That is why we need constant direction from the Holy Spirit, constant feeding on God’s Word, and constant shepherding by Christ himself.
The third is the one we are all looking forward to: He will eventually (future tense) save us from the presence of sin, so that we are no longer tormented, and will finally live in the full reality of the holiness that he has placed upon us.

Conclusion:

I can see all three tenses of salvation listed in John 5:24 “Whoever hears my words and believes in Him who sent me has (present tense) eternal life, and shall not (future tense) come into condemnation, but has crossed over (past tense…perfect tense, specifically) from death into life.” (Perfect tense implies a completed action at a past point in time, having permanent results for the future.)

If I have believed in Jesus’ shed blood as full payment for my sin, then I have eternally been saved from the penalty of sin. I have crossed over from death into life. The result for my future is that I will never be condemned by God. Please notice carefully that there are no “qualifiers” listed here: nothing that says “unless, or except”, or anything of the kind. I have eternal life, and God expects me to be living as one resurrected from the dead. He says this “is the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen”

⁵ To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

You know, given the facts he has just alluded to, and which we have discussed a little more directly, it seems impossible that anyone would not want to give Glory to God for the things he has done. He has poured out his Grace, unearned, and undeserved, upon us. Though we continually rebel against His Grace and His righteousness, He continues to Keep us, and cleanse us, and use us for His Glory. We can either honor Him with our lives, day by day, or fail to do so.

Keep that in mind when you sing hymns of Praise…He is worthy of every bit we can offer, and far, far more. (Amen!)

Father, change our lives into the likeness of Christ and cause us to live for your Glory. Amen!